LOBLAWS CLAIMS SUPPLY CHAIN OVERHAUL SUCCESSFUL

Essay by karenreedsUniversity, Bachelor'sA, April 2012

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LOBLAWS CLAIMS SUPPLY CHAIN OVERHAUL SUCCESSFUL

Loblaws is the largest food retailer in Canada. The topic is about how it renewed its supply chain within two years by replacing the old systems and centralizing and standardizing its entire network. The main goal under this transformation was to lower the operating costs, offer fresh products at the stores, and improve the inventory, last but not the least to move to a centralized network.

Loblaws had an old fashioned way of managing inventory by using several old systems across the Distribution centers. Previously, the transportation and warehouse were located in each distribution centers. This resulted in a lot of cost incurred with maintenance. Loblaws aimed to get the systems converted to be more centralized which results in including warehouse management system, forecasting, transportation and replenishment systems and a complete new set up of its order management systems. With the implementation of the new process, Loblaws already found a vast difference in their functionality and finds the centralized system more advantageous.

They now follow a flow model in which the inventory comes in on one side of the distribution center and ships out from the other on the same day. The main reason for them attaining this is by getting to know the orders ahead of time. As said by the VP of IT at Loblaws, "Now the orders are known ahead of time so deliveries can be loaded and then re- assembled in store-ready pallets for each location." (Progressive Grocer, 2011). Previously, they used to unload the truck at the warehouse, keep the orders in the racks and pick them up as the orders flowed in. Now the company also saw an improvement in the labor efficiency and SOP standardization across the network. It also gained ability to use advanced shipping notifications...